


The Jewel

by Ladyhawk_lhflu



Series: Bijou [1]
Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, BDSM, Collars, Dom/sub, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-25 22:04:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21363394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyhawk_lhflu/pseuds/Ladyhawk_lhflu
Summary: Rodney is given a gift.
Relationships: John Sheppard/Marshall Sumner, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Series: Bijou [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/758094
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	The Jewel

**Author's Note:**

> I needed the time and space of life before I wrote this. But yes, this is part 1. My Bijou, consider this an early anniversary present.

Rodney stared at Major Sheppard curiously. The man was self-consciously tugging his shirt collar, but for some reason wouldn't button it.

Why was the major wearing a dress shirt anyway? They weren't doing anything formal. Plus, Sheppard was one of the more informal people in the group. It couldn't be for warmth. Right now, Atlantis was rather steamy. Especially after spending a few months in Antarctica. 

As Rodney mused, Sheppard turned slightly so he could see something black peeking out above the button on his neck. It had a sheen that Rodney recognized. Leather.

Rodney backed away quickly, as he guessed what that meant. The major was probably a part of the same community Daniel and O'Neill were. Daniel had told him a bit about the alternate lifestyles when Rodney had come into Daniel's office in the Antarctic base while the archaeologist had been fooling with the new collar he had bought for O'Neill.

The astrophysicist knew that dominants were rather possessive. Daniel had lectured him on this. Rodney wondered now if it was because he had become friendly with the major somewhat quickly. Daniel knew Rodney had a tendency to be oblivious to social cues. Usually Daniel's lectures annoyed Rodney, but this time he was grateful. Atlantis was by necessity a tight knit community. He didn't want to step on anyone's toes too hard at this point.

Sheppard must have caught him looking at the collar because he turned away awkwardly. That was fine. Rodney needed to eat. He turned and headed to the room they had converted to the mess hall.

\----

Rodney shivered in the warm air as he watched the water from one of the piers. This galaxy hadn't welcomed them with open arms. It had stabbed them like the intruders they were. The fact that Sheppard did the actual killing was irrelevant. He had had no real choice.

Rodney hadn't liked Sumner from the moment their eyes first met. He hadn't been like O'Neill, whose laid back attitude somehow made everything run smoothly. He had been by the book, strict, and had lacked understanding of the scientific part of their mission. He had seemed at odds with Sheppard, to the point where the hostility had made Rodney uncomfortable.

That was no reason to want him dead. Rodney was not one for mourning people he barely knew. But he felt justified in mourning the loss of innocent enthusiasm that their group had as they walked through the gate to the Pegasus galaxy.

A moment was all he could spare for that loss, however. There was too much to do. So he headed back towards the lab rooms. On his way there, he heard someone grunting as if they were in pain.

Looking around, he spotted Sheppard through the open door of what had apparently become a gym room. Sheppard was kicking at a punching bag, with tears streaming down his face. And this time, the collar he had tried to hide earlier was fully revealed above his sweaty black t-shirt.

Entranced by Sheppard for some unfathomable reason, Rodney stood in the doorway and watched him kick the hell out of the punching bag. Then suddenly, Sheppard collapsed to the floor.

Startled, Rodney came into the room to help him up. But Sheppard waved his hand and muttered, "Close the door."

Since he didn't have Sheppard's instant access to all things Ancient, he looked around the doorway and found a small button to press, After the door shut, he sat on the floor next to Sheppard's prone body. "I'm the worst person to come to for sympathy. So do you want me to get someone?"

The major shook his head silently.

Rodney wasn't willing to leave Sheppard alone. Stress could do strange things to people. And those tears on his face worried Rodney. Was he actually mourning Sumner? He had given every indication that he hated the man.

The astrophysicist watched as Sheppard fingered his collar. So he asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to get your, uh, dom?"

"He's dead," Sheppard sighed with a shudder. 

"Oh." Now Sheppard's collapse made sense, but Rodney still didn't know what to do with him. So he just pulled a Powerbar out of his shirt pocket and handed it to the major.

Sheppard laughed. It was an honest laugh. The type you give a friend when they do something silly, or something unexpectedly odd. Rodney used to hate those laughs, because those kind ones had invariably been directed at someone else. (He usually received the derisive laughs instead). But he didn't mind this one. There seemed to be a smile in Sheppard's eye when he took the snack from Rodney.

"Thanks," Sheppard murmured as he opened the wrapper. "I don't remember the last time I ate."

Rodney shrugged. "My sister yelled at me constantly so that I'd keep food in my pockets. I forget to eat more often than I should."

"I'll have to remember that," Sheppard said. "We can't have your blood sugar dropping in the middle of an emergency."

"And every moment is an emergency around here," Rodney sighed.

"It'll calm down. Well, at least I hope it will." The major shifted so he was sitting cross-legged next to Rodney. "I promise to do my best to keep everyone safe, no matter what."

Rodney nodded. He could see the determination in the way Sheppard straightened his shoulders. "I'm sorry you lost the one who kept you safe," he whispered, thinking about what Daniel had told him in Antarctica.

"It wasn't working out." Suddenly, Sheppard's shoulders slumped and curled. "My regular dom in Antarctica passed me on to Sumner after I decided to join the mission. At the time I was grateful. I was having trouble with Wolf. But I knew I needed someone to keep me from getting out of control. Sumner seemed like he was stronger than Wolf. Turns out he was just crueler."

Rodney bit his tongue so he didn't disparage the deceased colonel, even though Sheppard made it clear that Sumner had been what he had appeared to be. He didn't want his agreement to sound like an insult to Sheppard. He was beginning to like Sheppard.

"Yeah, I know he picked on you too. I heard him do it." Sheppard shook his head at Rodney's expression. "Don't make your lip bleed. That will make Beckett yell at me. I don't need that right now."

"Sorry," the astrophysicist said with a shrug. "I didn't want to make anything worse."

Sheppard stood and held out his hand to Rodney. "You didn't. You gave me an excuse to stop beating myself up for a moment."

Rodney took the hand and stood. "Well, if you need any more excuses, find me."

"I might do that." Sheppard patted his shoulder and headed out the door without looking back.

Rodney stared after him, wondering what just happened and why he felt so good about it.

\----

The Pegasus galaxy didn't get any kinder, but the visitors learned how to deal with its mercurial beings. To do so, they sought support among friendly groups that they encountered. But the real support was the bonds they forged with each other. They were no longer huddling because they were the only Tauri in a scary galaxy. They were linking arms to hold each other up.

Rodney didn't expect Sheppard to seek him out when they weren't exploring. But he did. Sheppard dragged him to a pier to laze in the water, to the mess hall after he realized Rodney hadn't been there for too many hours, or to a room to watch that stupid football game one more time. 

The last one confused Rodney. Because Sheppard seemed amused by Rodney's rather derisive comments about the game.

Rodney paid him back by digging through his collection of movies and thrusting some decent ones at Sheppard. Then he found out how good at math the major was. So he made Sheppard check his equations for power distribution when Zelenka was worn out. Sheppard sometimes refused that. But he accepted the task more often than not. In fact, he seemed to use it as an excuse to watch Rodney.

Sheppard's eyes on him disconcerted Rodney. But when Sheppard stared at him, the major seemed calmer than at any other point in time. If Sheppard found staring at him relaxing, who was he to interfere?

Rodney didn't connect that to the day Sheppard collapsed in the gym room until Beckett called him to the infirmary without telling him why he needed to be there.

The astrophysicist knew Sheppard was in the infirmary because Beckett was worried about his energy level. The storm, the Genii, and especially Kolya had worn on everyone. But Sheppard had seemed to take the whole episode as reason to be on high alert constantly.

Rodney had shoved Sheppard at Beckett when he found the major falling asleep over what passed for oatmeal in the Pegasus galaxy. He hoped that Beckett's call wasn't a way for Sheppard to retaliate against him with a dreaded physical exam.

When Rodney walked into the infirmary, Beckett was staring at Sheppard with a frown. "Are you sure Rodney will be enough to calm you down enough so you can sleep?" the doctor was asking when Rodney approached them.

Sheppard's expression was inscrutable when he replied, "Let me talk to him in private for a few minutes. I'll let you know."

Beckett nodded and retreated to his office.

Once the doctor was out of sight, Sheppard reached under his left hip and pulled out his leather collar. He held it out to Rodney.

Rodney 's expression turned puzzled. "Do you want me to put it on?"

Sheppard shook his head. "I want you to be my next dom."

"Oh." Rodney sat heavily in the chair next to the bed Sheppard was fidgeting on. "I don't know how to be a dom."

"Not knowing hasn't stopped you from keeping this city running," Sheppard said, laying the collar on the bed between them. 

"Why?" Rodney asked, pointedly not refusing Sheppard's request until he knew more.

"I feel safe with you."

The responsibility that came with that sentence was enormous, but Rodney knew he couldn't refuse Sheppard and live with his conscience. So he took the collar and examined it carefully. "Do you like being a dog?" he asked Sheppard.

Sheppard eyed Rodney with a grimace.

"This is a dog collar. If you like being a dog, fine. But I would prefer to put something more flattering on you." The collar Daniel had been fooling with had been filigreed and covered with small, brightly colored stones. It had looked more like a wedding present than a sign of ownership. And the man before him was suffering because he didn't want to risk the people who had become his charges. He deserved a hell of a lot more than a dog collar.

"Whatever you wish, Sir." Sheppard bowed his head as he realized Rodney was arguing over details, but had accepted the offer, at least tentatively.

"Is that what you called Sumner?" Rodney asked as his mind flitted between all the things he knew he had to consider as a dom. Just the basics were overwhelming. But if Sheppard needed someone to help him feel safe, well, the moment they were in contact with Earth again, Rodney was going to have Daniel send him some books so he could do it right. In the meantime, being different from Sheppard's--John's last dom was top priority.

John nodded. "Sir or Master."

"Then you can call me Maitre."

John raised an eyebrow. "French?"

Rodney huffed. "I'm Canadian, deal with it." What he didn't say was that he figured the difference in pronunciation would be enough so John could focus on him, not the past.

John bowed his head. "Thank you, Maitre."

Rodney ran a hand through John's hair to soothe them both. "I'll tell Beckett that I'll watch your back, then we need to go to the lab so I can find a substitute for this insulting collar."

John startled at the word 'insulting' but didn't say anything. He just stood and waited for Rodney to precede him.

Rodney walked into Beckett's office and rattled off a list of things he would try to help John sleep, like boring movies and math problems. When Beckett nodded agreeably, Rodney grabbed John's arm and dragged him to the lab.

Shoving John in a chair and ordering him to not touch anything of course made the man want to touch everything. But Rodney ignored this as he dug in a storage container they were using as a junk box.

"Since we're short on supplies, I'll fix this collar so it's less insulting to you, and so the clasp can be undone quickly. I don't need everyone knowing your preferences. But in the meantime, I think I can give you a substitute." Rodney pulled out a braided bracelet that nobody had claimed, then grabbed the small metal piece he had been fooling with the other day. He had used an Ancient device to shape it into an 8, or if it was turned sideways, an infinity sign.

He threaded the bracelet through the metal. "I'm not declaring you my submissive for infinity, but I find you infinitely capable of getting us out of trouble."

John chuckled. "You do your share."

"Hush, I'm practicing being a good dom. You're my idiot now, and I won't have you thinking bad things about yourself. I know Sumner put you down regularly."

"You just called me an idiot," John pointed out.

"*My* idiot. That makes it a compliment, not an insult." Rodney smiled as John let out a braying laugh. Then he held out the bracelet. "Take your armband off for a minute."

Once John slipped it off, Rodney put the bracelet in its spot. "Will the armband hide this?"

John slipped the armband on over the bracelet and nodded. "Thank you, Maitre."

"You're welcome...bijou." Rodney couldn't give John jewels. They hadn't found any as of yet. But the astrophysicist was beginning to understand what the phrase 'a jewel of a person' meant. It meant someone who found ways to be there for his people. It meant someone like John.

Rodney knew that John had most likely been called 'slave' or something equally as powerless by his other doms. But Rodney didn't want John to be powerless. How could he protect the city in that state of mind?

He kissed John's forehead when the other man smiled. "Come on, you're spending the night in my quarters. Beckett will be after me in the morning if I don't make sure you sleep."

So Rodney dragged John to his room and tucked him into the small bed while he finished some work. Rodney was glad to see John fall asleep almost immediately.

As he shut down his laptop and prepared to sleep in the chair he was sitting in, he wondered what his next step should be to give John the solace he needed.

John made the decision for Rodney when he muttered, "I am not listening to you bitch about your back when we go exploring tomorrow. There's enough room behind me. Get into bed, Maitre."

Rodney did as asked. They both slept the rest of the night in peace. 

**Author's Note:**

> Now that this first part is complete (after writing pieces that belong somewhere in the middle), I'll write more of this and probably rearrange the parts like puzzle pieces. But no matter what, this one comes first.


End file.
